Year : 2023
Style : Hard Rock , Classic Rock
Country : Japan
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 137 mb
Bio:
The name Murasaki (紫) translates to "purple" as homage to the band's idols, Deep Purple.Murasaki was originally formed by keyboardist George Murasaki in 1971 on the island of Okinawa in southwestern Japan. Okinawa became the focus of public attention in 1972, when it was returned to Japanese administration after being under the control of the US military ever since the end of World War II. Just around this time, mainland Japanese record companies started approaching Murasaki, which had become very popular among the US servicemen stationed on the island as well as among the young local Okinawan rock music fans. Murasaki landed a recording contract in 1975 with a major recording company currently known as Tokuma Japan. Murasaki released two studio albums in 1976 – the first in April and the second in December – each selling more than 40,000 copies at a time most Japanese bands struggled to sell a fraction of that. The band gained national attention and registered strongly on the mainland Japanese rock scene immediately after its debut, but broke up only two years later. Murasaki, playing on and around US military bases against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, entertained GI’s in Koza City, popularizing the hard rock and rhythm and blues styles that became known as Okinawan rock. After the initial breakup, George Murasaki went on to form a band called “George Murasaki & Mariner.” The new band recorded two studio albums in California in 1978 and 1979, but it, too, was short-lived.In 1983, the original members of Murasaki came back together for a reunion that fired up the local music scene that was stagnant at the time. With the backing of loyal supporters, the band staged a reunion concert titled “Murasaki, Why Now? Peaceful Love Rock Concert.” Encouraged by the large turnout of more than 5,000 cheering fans, Murasaki and its supporters decided to turn this concert into a rock festival to be held regularly in the summer with participation by numerous bands. Since then, the festival – named “Peaceful Love Rock Festival” – has continued to grow into one of the most reputed rock festivals not only in Okinawa, but also throughout Japan. The festival’s title was named by George Murasaki and was inspired by a song from George Murasaki & Mariner’s second album titled “Peaceful,” which was written by JJ, the band’s lead vocalist.After going through a series of personnel changes over a couple of decades, Murasaki finally regrouped in late 2007 with the current lineup: George Murasaki (keyboards), Kiyomasa Higa (guitars), Yukio Shimoji (guitars), Eiichi Miyanaga (drums), JJ (lead vocals), and Chris Teruya (bass guitar). (The first four are original members of the band). In addition to performing at the Peaceful Love Rock Festival and numerous local venues, the new band performed in major events in mainland Japan: Tokyo in May 2008, Kobe in October 2009, and most recently in Tokyo in November 2009, after which the band signed on with a new Japanese record label (Hydrant Records). On 9 June 2010, the band released their new CD album titled "Purplessence," which is currently available on the Japanese Amazon online store. The album and individual songs can also be purchased from the Japanese iTunes Store.Additional information: Murasaki was voted number one in a popularity poll conducted in 1977 by “Music Life,” the most popular music magazine in Japan at the time. All the members were also selected in the top 10 in their individual categories in 1978 (George Murasaki #1 keyboardist, Eiichi Miyanaga #3 drummer, and the bassist, lead vocalist, and the two guitarists in the #5, #6, and #10 positions, respectively).
Album:
Great DEEP PURPLE style album.Timeless is a highly appropriate name for this album, because it sounds good in 2023 but hearkens very clearly back to the early seventies, the primary inspirations obviously being British hard rock bands with the heavy organ sound, most obviously Deep Purple. In fact, their very name translates as "purple" and it was adopted by the band's founder George Higa to become George Murasaki. It should be mentioned that Purple and Murasaki are contemporaries, because this band was formed in 1970, pioneering rock music in Japan in the process. The reason they're not better known today outside their home nation is that they didn't release an album until 1976 and they only managed two before splitting up in 1978.Well, four members of the band that released those two albums got back together in 2007, with a pair of new colleagues, JJ on lead vocals and Chris on bass, and this is their third album since then, following 2010's Purplessence and 2016's Quasar. Both have history with the Murasaki family, JJ the lead singer of George Murasaki & Mariner at the tail end of the seventies, and Chris also the bass player in another Japanese rock band, 8-Ball, which is led by two of Murasaki's sons, Leon and Ray, who both played for Murasaki during a brief earlier return in 2000.I believe they've kept on with their old sound but added a slightly more metallic edge, as we might expect from a band that boasts two guitarists. And yes, I do mean "slightly" there, because there's a massive range from Younger Days to Don't Look Back! and only some of it would feel at home on a metal album. This is primarily hard rock and, wherever it goes musically, it never drifts far from that core Deep Purple inspired sound, which is led by Murasaki himself on keyboards with a swathe of glorious riffs and runs.Younger Days features a tasty guitar solo, but it's primarily a piano-driven ballad laden down with plenty of orchestration. It's easily my least favourite song here, though I rather like Tears of Joy, a shorter song that does much the same thing but without the orchestration. I prefer the heavy end and that shouldn't surprise anyone, but Don't Look Back! is a strong song for other reasons too. It starts out symphonic, almost like an ELO song, then launches into prog metal with a strong guitar against a wonderfully prowling bass backdrop. It has a real doomy weight to it, sitting somewhere between Black Sabbath and Witchfynde, which isn't what I expected to say a few songs earlier.I believe the prog aspect is relatively new too, though I've only dipped into their seventies albums. It was always there, I guess, but not as a focus. Now it often is, starting with Free Your Soul and Let It Be, which picks up from a weaker The Fire is Burnin' with a wonderful organ intro and some neat prog exploration. It's also a playful song, following a straight song and a belter, as Raise Your Voice opens up with power, barrelling along in the midsection like Space Truckin'. The Fire is Burnin' does little for me, but the bookends around it are both highlights of the album.While Deep Purple are very much the obvious comparison, they're not the only one. There's some Uriah Heep dotted throughout but that influence really comes out to play on the second of a pair of bonus tracks. They're Starship Rock 'n' Rollers and Double Dealing Woman, both re-recordings with the current line-up of earlier material. It's Double Dealing Woman that's clearly inspired by Heep as much as Purple, and it features guest appearances by Kyoji Yamamoto of Bow Wow and a Japanese guitar hero who goes by Char.Perhaps it's the British influences from the seventies that prompt them to sing in English, but that has always been their approach from the very beginning. Then again, their current singer doesn't appear to be Japanese even though he technically is, having been born in Japan. JJ stands for John Joseph and his surname is Patterson, perhaps explaining why there's no accent in his singing, even though his predecessor in the seventies, Masao Shiroma, certainly had one, as fluent as he seems to have been in English.I liked this album a lot and found it hard to move on to another one. Perhaps most notably, it never feels long, even though the the two bonus tracks bump up the running time almost to an hour. This skips along effortlessly and feels a lot shorter than it is, possibly because it's broken up well with a pair of ballads and a more metallic song. Their regular sound therefore breaks down into a shorter set of chunks and it's all very accessible.
Line-Up:
JJ - Vocals (lead) (2007-present) - See also: ex-Eastern Orbit, ex-Heavy Metal Army, ex-George Murasaki & Mariner
GG - Guitars (1971-1978, 2007-present)
Kiyomasa Higa - Guitars (1973-1978, 2007-present) - See also: ex-Energy
Chris - Bass (2007-present) - See also: Feel So Bad, 8-Ball
George Murasaki - Keyboards (1970-1978, 2000, 2007-present) - See also: ex-George Murasaki & Mariner, ex-George Murasaki Project, ex-Koza, ex-Okinawa
Chibi - Drums, Vocals (backing) (1972-1974, 1975-1978, 2007-present), Vocals (lead) (2000) - See also: ex-Eastern Orbit, ex-Zodiac, ex-Heavy Metal Army, Miyanaga Eiichi Project, Tenryu, ex-Condition Green, ex-San Diego
Tracklist:
01. Raise Your Voice 05:58
02. The Fire Is Burning 06:20
03. Free Your Soul and Let It Be 06:48
04. Younger Days 05:26
05. Don't Stand in My Way 05:47
06. Don't Look Back! 07:09
07. Talk to the Sun 05:23
08. Tears of Joy 02:51
09. Starship Rock 'n' Rollers 07:29 (Bonus Track)
10. Double Dealing Woman 05:12 (Bonus Track)
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